How power and money shape life.
Here I keep short entries on political economy and geopolitics as they unfold. Over time, they build into a record of how the world is being rearranged in prices and pay slips, in borders and wars, in debt, housing, work, and care.
10 June 2026: The Combatant as Mediator
Trump wants to occupy an impossible position in the war with Iran. He presents himself as the man standing between Iran and Israel, the figure who can restrain both sides and bring the fighting back under control. But the United States is not outside this war. It helped open it. That makes the language of mediation more than a diplomatic posture. It becomes a way of managing responsibility.